Forum Help

If you want to ask about changing your username, have login problems, have password problems or a technical issue please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com

Posting help:

If you want to ask why a word can't be typed, your signature's been changed, or a post has been deleted see the Forum Rules. If you don't find the answer you can ask forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com though due to volumes we can't guarantee replies.

NB: THIS IS AN ADAPTED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL CHALLENGE, SPECIFICALLY FOR MSE FORUM USERS

This is an adaptation of Frugaldom's 'Living on £4,000 for a Year' challenge. It has been running here on MSE for the past 5 years, but the actual challenge began several years previously, elsewhere. It has seen many changes over the years, so this version is a catalogue of diaries charting the progress of 'debt free wannabe' money savers.

Your budget is personal to you, it should fit with your personal financial situation.

Some have achieved their debt free status and now follow frugal lifestyles in order to stay debt free. Others are still pursuing that dream. Whichever stage you are at, feel free to join us for 2013 and share your journey as you give debts the heave-ho once and for all.

Edited in - the MSE version of the 2014 Frugal Living Challenge is HERE

The following links will take you to previous MSE versions of this challenge:

IMPORTANTPlease respect others' lifestyles and beliefs. We are not here to judge, we are here to support. Thank you

This challenge is about living a frugal lifestyle - establishing your true cost of living, sticking to your budget, clearing any debts and making savings wherever and however you can to enable you to live the life you really want.

Frugal living isn't for everyone, but everyone is welcome to join us. Methods employed by our merry band of frugalers include batch cooking, stockpiling, preserving, foraging, mending, shopping in charity shops, reducing, reusing, recycling, Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS), Vegetable and fruit growing, allotments, keeping hens, using cashback sites and earning whatever it takes to become self sufficient in managing the cost of living without incurring debt.

For some it is initially about clearing debt, for others it's about increasing savings, buying property, becoming stay at home mums or paying off the mortgage early. Some choose the lifestyle on ethical grounds. Above all, this is a fun and supportive way to manage your budget so you have control of your own cost of living. It's about NEEDS and not WANTS.

Living on a budget = living within our means.Frugal = thrifty, living without waste

The bits we need to include to make this work ====================================

Please read the MSE forum rules and help us to keep this challenge on track, thank you.If you have any questions about this challenge, feel free to PM me.The following is taken from the official MSE forum rules section:

KEEPING THREADS ON-TOPIC

Please try not to take threads off-topic. This can be confusing for new users and makes it especially difficult for people ... Where requests from Board Guides for threads to be brought back on track have not been followed off-topic posts may be removed. We encourage community, but not thread derailment.

Please bear in mind the main purpose of the site is to save money. The forum team has therefore been instructed to prioritise its time on the MoneySaving forums.

KEEPING TOPICS RELEVANT TO THE BOARD

There are two boards provided for off-topic chat and discussion. The MoneySavers Armshas been set up for fun, more lighter-hearted chat (although do still remember this is a family forum – keep it clean please). Discussion Time is for discussion of current issues (read Martin’s description).

If you post a topic that does not relate to the board it’s posted on it will be moved to a more relevant MoneySaving board or to Discussion Time/The MoneySavers Arms.===================================

This challenge is about paying for needs so we can afford to live debt free and save for wants. It runs from 1st January to 31st December 2013 The links will give you an idea of how previous challenges have gone and these will be updated accordingly.

Last edited by Frugaldom; 22-12-2013 at 10:23 AM.
Reason: Preparing for 2014 challenge

I lurked a bit on the other thread but I'd like to join in properly this year as we are completely skint, and need to look after my money like never before.
We're a family of 5, high earners but high outgoings too and the two are very close right now. Additionally, we have a load of stuff to do on the house and we need to save up enough by summer to get it all done.

Hi everyone, Frugaldom thanks for starting the new thread (I've PMd you to be added to the Challenger List) and thanks again to Slowlyfading for keeping an eye on us

2013 will be my 3rd year doing the FLC - year 1 was a big learning curve and I made huge steps but this year I seem to have plodded along - although great as I've not slipped back to non-frugal ways .... I need to learn new things next year!

Looking forward to this in 2013 & discovering more frugal ways.
I haven't completely worked out my budget. I have really enjoyed it this year plus it keeps me on track. I hope to end the year with a high amount of savings next year and keep within whatever I set.

rent- £1800
mobiles- £300
internet- £540
electric £600
food £1200
desil £1800
play money £250
insurances £180
heating £360
xmas £0 (trying to do xmas next year with vouchers and surverys but have £300 set aside just incase, have £5 already and quite a few gifts already for next year-excess stuff from this year)
clothes £0 trying to make clothes do and only use birthday/xmas money and uniform allowance have £53 already, i spent £12 of this already on 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of shoes.

That comes to £7030 i'm setting a budget of £7500 for 2013 which allows extra if xmas and clothes don't work out as planned.So £625 a month to live on.I'm feeling positive

Wow, the new thread! Its amazing how excited I can become over a new thread - think I may be a bit of a MSE geek but proud of this nonetheless.

Will defo be joining again for 2013. I am having a bit of a dilema just now about applying for a job that may mean me moving house (if I get it). I have very small amount of savings but no mortgage (paid off earlier in 2012) and it would mean that I would have a permanent job again. Moving to this location is actually part of my 5 year plan but I am just not sure if I should accelerate that plan or wait until I have more avialable cash.

I'd like to join in with this I'm hoping that being more frugal will allow me to hit my savings target in 2013. This means I have now started to think of what I can change, what I am spending on wants instead of needs and I will start this off by trying to put together a budget which I found on your list in the 1st post so thank you Frugaldom..

Please can you add me to this years challenge.. I've been hiding away reading all last years posts & really need to get my butt in gear & do something about how we live! I'll be thinking of my budget & put up later/as soon as I can x Thanks for all the inspiration x

I just tried setting my budgets for next year, and I'm coming in at £2k more than I'd like to be, even after asking my son to increase his contribution to household running costs/grocery bills by 50% - so that's all going to have to come out of my savings

In fairness I could claw it (and more) back by cancelling my swimming lessons and personal trainer sessions, but with the health issues I'm having at the moment (and my long standing back problems) I think anything that forces me to exercise is money well spent Plus the swimming lessons are to get my techniques right (I can potter up and down for about 20 lengths in my own style), which means I shouldn't end up with back ache the next day as often happens now.

The budget's also not helped by the fact my grocery bill keeps climbing - and not just because of the costs rising in the supermarkets. It's looking increasingly likely I've developed lactose intolerance, but in the last couple of weeks I've also started to think I may be having issues with other foodstuffs (avoiding dairy but still having problems) - and that all means I'm having to pick and choose foods more carefully, and generally end up with much more expensive options (eg. my soya milk's almost twice the price of fresh skimmed milk, and the only cheeses I seem to be able to handle are goat's/feta which are a lot dearer than cheddar - especially compared to when mature cheddar comes up on offer). The grocery budget covers me for the whole year, my son for 2 days a week (about all he seems to be around, with the rest of the time spent at his girl-friend's) and my OH one day a week.

However it's looking possible I may be able to get a few extra hours work each week - and am hoping to tie them into a day I'm already at the gym for a PT session which means no extra petrol/car expenses. That would cover about £800 of my 'overspend' which is nice

I currently work Wed, Thur and Fri, with one PT session after work on Thur and my swimming lesson after work on Fri. My other PT session is on a Monday, so I'm hoping to do the extra hours that day so that I don't have to increase car running cost budgets - the boss is fairly flexible as to whether I do them Mon or Tues, so I may even be able to move them if I want a long weekend and not have to take holiday time

At least some of my exercise expenses (and all my commuting costs) are effectively covered by my employer. I used to pay £35/month for gym membership, but now I work there it's free as a perk of the job. So about £14/month of that covers the petrol I use to get to work, leaving the rest to offset other costs

I've had to set my 'medical' costs a lot higher than I wanted to, but that's because I remembered I'm due an eye check-up (and almost certainly new glasses) in October/November - which is over and above dental and prescription costs that were all I'd originally budgetted for.

I'm expecting to have to make some tweaks the first week of next month (after reading gas, electric and water meters and adjusting payments as necessary - almost certainly upwards ), but as it stands after a first stab my spreadsheet looks like this

EDIT: I've already realised I'm going to have to increase my presents budget as I've not allowed anything for my brother, sister-in-law and nephews, nor OH's niece (let alone other members of his family!). I'm hoping to make some and cover others with vouchers from surveys (must get back to doing those on a regular basis), but it's still going to be a hefty upwards jump in case those plans don't work out

It's looking increasingly likely I've developed lactose intolerance, but in the last couple of weeks I've also started to think I may be having issues with other foodstuffs (avoiding dairy but still having problems) - and that all means I'm having to pick and choose foods more carefully, and generally end up with much more expensive options (eg. my soya milk's almost twice the price of fresh skimmed milk,

Ohhh with you on that one Cheryl - I'm lactose intolerant and my milk costs come in at around a staggering £400+ / year when you think you can get fresh "normal" milk for 43p / litre and the lacto*free stuff is around £1.30 / litre it quickly adds up.

I'm really struggling to keep my grocery bill under control - both from the lactose issues and having been ill recently I'm on a very restricted diet now ... and again it seems to consist of expensive foods *sigh*

I feel the way you do about your personal trainer with my massages - they help my back so much that there are other sacrifices I'd make first before getting rid of them.

Exercise is a good one as it's not built into my budget at all just now - I do a lot of walking with the dog but do find swimming helps the back too .... must look into that more as I get a staff discount at the pool!

I have got some savings figures included in here which shouldn't really be in my overall expenses total but I use the SoW to keep track of all my monthly payments / direct debits as well so they've had to be added for that purpose

Overall reduction of nearly £450 on last years figure but not sure if that's really a sensible move! Still .... it is a challenge so!

Here's my budget for 2013 - aims are to pay off £7900 cc debt and hopefully make some overpayments on my loan with just over £8000 to go. I haven't included mortgage or debt repayments, council tax or the cost of the MA I'm studying. We recently got rid of Skyand have no tv aerial so don't have to have a tv licence for watching catchup online so have saved on that.

This leaves me with enough for a couple of hot stone massages all for £4500. I've been seriously considering selling my car as it's only 3years old is still under warranty with servicing included for another 2 years and would raise about £6500. I get the bus to work and walk home as I only work 3 days a week and only use the car to go to the supermarket and my voluntary work, both of which are on bus routes. I'll probably decide around April time when the weather is a bit nicer!

"I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better." Paul Theroux

I am thinking of joining, I tried a few years ago and failed miserably!

I am going to do some reading. Not sure what I can manage, done a rough budget for the first time! and am in back in debt - due to my lack of budgetting and ability to save (this sentence is all a bit backwards but I really need the Loo so it is staying like that)

How this site works

We think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of the site. We're a journalistic website and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques, but can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong.

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

Do note, while we always aim to give you accurate product info at the point of publication, unfortunately price and terms of products and deals can always be changed by the provider afterwards, so double check first.

We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned (how likely they are to go bust), but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips).

We often link to other websites, but we can't be responsible for their content.

Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion.

MoneySavingExpert.com is part of the MoneySupermarket Group, but is entirely editorially independent. Its stance of putting consumers first is protected and enshrined in the legally-binding MSE Editorial Code.